❤️

"Gosh, Kaden is messy," Edna mutters as she picks up the empty cotton candy tubs. She shakes her head and throws it in a black garbage bag. "I don't know why I willingly clean his room," she continues to shake her head.

"Um, sorry. That was mainly due to the both of us." She stops dead in her tracks and turns her head slowly towards me.

"He gave you some of his cotton candy?"

"Yeah, he gave me a tub!" I happily grin out. Her mouth was left agape as she stared at me in horror. "What?" I ask, curious as to why she was staring at me like this.

"He never shares his cotton candy with anyone." Well, now I see why she was so shocked. "I suppose that because you're his mate, you're an exception. Although, when he was younger he always said he wouldn't share with anyone and not even his mate. Oh how the times have changed," she says, looking a bit nostalgic.

"You know we can clean up for ourselves, Edna. You don't have to."

"Oh I know, but you're my Alpha and Luna."

"We're still ordinary people, well I am. Please, I will do this. It's our mess anyway," I tell her, taking the black bag from her.

"Well, are you sure, Luna?"

"Positive," I smile back at her and she returns it, walking out of the room. I clean up the little mess Kaden and I made. We spent the evening watching two movies whilst eating cotton candy and also ice cream. Let's just say, it's great that he has a freezer of ice cream in his office! Seriously, this guy has everything. He's got a mini-ish fridge in his room, and the freezer is in his office. He mainly stores a lot of ice cream there. Along with those, he has all these bowls, plates, cutlery etc. He could basically live up here and doesn't have to go down. How amazing is that?

After throwing all the rubbish into the black garbage bag, I walk out the room to head downstairs but am stopped when Kaden walks out of his office. He stares down at the bag and gives me a questioning look. "Um? I thought Edna was doing that?" He asks, scratching his head.

"I offered to do it. She shouldn't have to clean up after us," I tell him, continuing to walk. I hear the office door shut and he's suddenly by my side.

"Alright then. Well, I came to talk to you about something."

"What's up?" I ask. It was odd, I felt a little more comfortable around him. I felt less uneasy. He managed to convince me last night that he wasn't going to reject me, but I still held that thought in the back of my mind. For now, I'd push it right to the back and focus on this mate bond I have with him. I mean, why not strengthen it? I guess.. I still feel uneasy about trusting him. After all, I've been stabbed in the back many times. The worst time was when I literally got stabbed in the back. It happened last year, on my sixteenth birthday.

*

"How can you live with yourself knowing you've killed your mother? I can't stand to look at you. I mean, no one practically can. Sixteen and still a stupid mutt. Your mother died for you?" I stared up at the group of teens staring down at me. They'd pushed me to the ground and kicked and punched me a lot. I hated it, but I deserved it. Years and years of torment because I killed my mother, I surely did deserve it.

What a great sixteenth birthday.

"Look at her," one girl sneered, "can't even stand up for herself," she scoffed and kicked me. I didn't want Ariella to go crazy on them, so I resisted from shifting. It's been like this forever, especially since I shifted. I had to keep control, which I learnt quickly. They went to turn away after spitting on me, most missing my face thankfully.

I pushed myself up with my arms, my hands hurting from them stepping and crushing them. I cried out in pain when I felt something stab into my back. I fell down onto my front again and cried out, wincing in pain. I heard laughter, lots of it. I cried and cried, the pain becoming unbearable. I twisted my arm around, finding the knife. I pulled it out, the knife bloody from my blood.

I lay on the ground, crying and crying. The pain was horrendous, just like my life. If only I had died instead of my mother, everything would be fine by now.

I tried to stand up, just about managing it. I limped and limped towards my safe place. I always go here, and it's the perfect place to recover. However, I've never had something entirely like this. Sure, I've been cut but never stabbed.

Lovely birthday present.

*

"Nova?" I shake my head and am brought back into reality. I look to Kaden who was staring at me. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," I whisper, the memory getting the best of me. I can't end up like that again. His hand went to touch my back and I immediately flinched, yelling at him to keep his hands to himself. He looked taken aback, and I don't blame him. I rushed downstairs and to the kitchen, throwing the bag in the bin. I stand at the sink, staring in it and taking a deep breath.

"Nova," Kaden called out, "I'm sorry. I didn't think-"

"It's not your fault, don't worry about it okay? Just...just forget about it."

"How can I? You just- okay, I'll forget about it," he said, probably noticing my facial expression when I turned around. "I needed to talk about training," he says to me, "I'm going to train you."

"Me? Why?"

"So that I know you can take care of yourself when I can't take care of you. Tomorrow we'll start. Tomorrow you will show me what you can do, and I will make you better. If need be, that is. Tomorrow bright and early."

"Does it have to be early?" I ask, noticing the change in my voice. It had become much quieter, and I think Kaden noticed too because he was frowning.

"Kind of, yes. I've got to train kids too later on. Figured you and I could do it earlier so that we would have time and no one would disturb us..if you-"

"Yeah, okay. That's fine by me. I'm just going to go now and.."

"You could look after the kids outside? Get to know them a bit?"

"I was going to watch some tv upstairs. I don't think I'm ready to properly socialise, I'm sorry," I murmur, looking down. He's probably disappointed in me.

Suddenly he was in front of me, lifting up my chin. "It's okay, don't fret. When you're ready, you're ready. I won't rush you," he says, with a smile on his face. He's got a nice smile.

"Thank you."